Daily Archives: November 9, 2012

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A flock of Waxwings drink from a hole in the ice. The flock was filmed on the canal at Crossflatts, near Keighley, West Yorkshire, UK in the winter of 2010 and 2011 when there was a significant influx of this species.

Today, a group of about twenty Bohemian waxwings, near the fire brigade building in the north-west of Leiden, the Netherlands. They were eating berries, and attracted wildlife photographers.

A good mood, better concentration, and less stress – nature can work wonders for our health. But we even we do not have to go outside for that. According to research by future Professor Agnes van den Berg.

According to Van den Berg, just people looking at nature through a window or seeing an image already has a positive effect on health. …

Van den Berg this Tuesday will have her inaugural lecture at the University of Groningen.

On 1 January 2012, Dr A.E. van den Berg became professor by special appointment in Experiencing and Valuing Nature and Landscape at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences (FRW) of the University of Groningen. The founding of a chair in Experiencing and Valuing Nature and Landscape comes at a time when there is wide general concern about the violation of nature and landscape values. With Van den Berg as the holder of the chair, the Netherlands has gained an active advocate for more academic research into the consequences of these developments for the health and wellbeing of people.

Agnes van den Berg (Apeldoorn, 1967) studied experimental psychology at the University of Groningen and gained a PhD in 1999 from the same university with research on how nature development areas are experienced. In 1997 she moved to Wageningen to work as an environmental psychologist at the Alterra knowledge institute.

With the publication of the essay ‘Van buiten word je beter’ [Fresh air makes you healthy] in 2001, she moved the importance of nature for the health of the public high up the social and scientific agenda. Since 2003, Van den Berg has been combining her applied research at Alterra with an academic appointment at Wageningen University. Within the NWO project ‘Vitamin G’ (where G stands for green), she is working on the scientific basis of the relationship between green in the living environment and health.

She also plays an active role in the translation of academic knowledge of the experience of nature and health into practical advice and guidelines. She regularly gives presentations and interviews on themes including the importance of nature for the development of children, the contribution paid by gardening to healthy ageing, and designing with how it will be experienced in mind.

Authorities in Bahrain are being blamed for the death of a 16-year-old boy, as opposition supporters and human rights activists said police prevented people from attending Friday prayers by setting up checkpoints and firing tear gas at the crowds.

­Ali Radhi reportedly tried to break through police barricades to get to a mosque, and was then chased onto a highway where he was struck by a car and killed. According to activists, the boy’s family blamed the officers and the police barricades for their son’s death.

The security measures kept many people from attending the Friday prayers of Sheik Isa Qassim, who denounced Bahrain’s move earlier this week to revoke the citizenship of 31 Shiite activists and lawyers.

“The revoking of citizenship from honorable people is aimed at punishing those who have opposition views,” he told worshippers who managed to reach his mosque in the Diraz village. The town is a Shiite district outside the capital of Manama.

According to Bahraini human rights activist Zainab al-Khawaja, worshippers prayed on the streets after they realized they won’t be able to enter the mosque. Several people attempted to scale the walls in order to avoid the security blockade.

Bahrain Live: 16 year old killed, youth shot in head by teargas canister, but protests continue: here.

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) strongly denounces the latest decision by the Ministry of Interior to revoke the Bahraini nationality from 31 political opponents, including former Members of Parliament from Al Wefaq Shia movement, and religious clerics: here.

Bahrain’s opposition al-Wefaq group said today it had “little hope” of a breakthrough in talks with the autocratic government: here.

Nearly five months after being acquitted of crimes related to Bahrain’s anti-government uprising, some Shi’ite medics remain suspended from work and fear they may never practice medicine in the country again: here.

Around 4,000 Egyptian labourers in Jeddah, who were transferring luggage in King Abdul Aziz Airport for the pilgrimage season, staged a sit-in Wednesday [31 October 2012] in protest at the treatment of a colleague.

According to Ahram Online, Fathi Ismail, an Egyptian consular consultant, “was commissioned by Adel El-Alfy, Egypt’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, along with consular representatives headed by Mohamed Al-Sharif, Egyptian consul in Jeddah, to resolve the protest which halted luggage transfers for a few hours.”

As the dispute was resolved with an apology, four Egyptian labourers who were arrested earlier by Saudi security forces during clashes, were released.

On October 22, six seismologists and a government official were sentenced to six years in prison by a court in L’Aquila, Italy on multiple charges of manslaughter. The judges ruled that they had violated their duty to correctly inform the public about the risks of an impending earthquake. The judgment is not yet final and subject to revision.

The trial dealt with the events surrounding the catastrophic earthquake which took place on April 6, 2009 in the region of Abruzzia. The earthquake, which measured 6.3 on the Richter scale, killed 309 people in L’Aquila, including many children and adolescents. Some 1,500 people were injured and 67,000 were made homeless. The historic center of the city has still not been rebuilt. Damage was also substantial in other towns and villages in the region.

The verdict provoked anger in Italy and worldwide. Broad sections of the media and leading academic bodies such as the American Geophysical Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) expressed their solidarity with the convicted seismologists. In Italy, a number of leading scientists resigned their posts in protest. On the same evening as the verdict, the physicist Luciano Maiani resigned as president of the State Risk Commission.

More than 5,000 scientists had already protested in an open letter to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano at the start of the trial in September 2011. They argued that it is impossible to precisely predict an earthquake and referred to earthquake maps and guidelines for quake-resistant construction long in possession of the government. They called on politicians to take steps to improve earthquake prevention, “rather than punishing scientists for failing to do a job beyond their power: predicting earthquakes.” …

The harsh sentences against Boschi and his co-defendants for manslaughter are a legal travesty. It makes the scientists scapegoats aimed at diverting attention away from those really responsible, i.e. the former government of Silvio Berlusconi, corrupt authorities, criminal building companies and property speculators.

Although the seismic risk at L’Aquila was known and strict building codes existed, they apparently had been systematically ignored or bypassed by corrupt construction companies. The earthquake not only destroyed many old buildings, but also a number of newly constructed public buildings, although others in the immediate vicinity remained intact. Among the buildings to collapse were a new hospital and a student hostel, which had both been financed by public money. The collapse of these buildings was a clear indication of botched construction and the use of inferior materials.

These issues, however, were not even investigated, let alone made the subject of a trial. Proposals for stricter laws and controls have also failed to materialize due to the powerful lobby of major construction companies and real estate speculators. Up to the present day all governments, including the current regime of Mario Monti, have failed to introduce measures appropriate for an earthquake-prone region.

Prior to the 2009 quake, the government of Silvio Berlusconi and regional authorities had pursued an appeasement strategy aimed at lulling the population and avoiding the high costs involved in securing buildings and evacuation procedures. It was this huge mesh of political irresponsibility and corruption which meant that the earthquake on April 6, 2009, which had been anticipated for a long time, had such a devastating impact.

The seven convicted scientists, most of whom are internationally recognized authorities in their fields, are being made the scapegoats for widespread bitterness within the population, while those genuinely responsible get off scot-free.

The residents of the earthquake-stricken region are still waiting for support and assistance. Shortly after the quake Berlusconi convened a photo-op G-8 summit in L’Aquila and the authorities hastily assembled temporary constructions outside the city. The center of the city remains devastated, however, with an above average number of people unemployed. Hopelessness and rage have erupted on a number of occasions, and the people of L’Aquila have protested several times in Rome.

The trial failed to establish that any of the defendants had made statements against their better judgment or for personal gain. In fact, Italian scientists have repeatedly presented governments and political leaders with recommendations for seismic protection measures and assembled a wealth of material—including hazard maps, guidelines for earthquake-resistant construction, and evacuation plans—which successive governments have failed to implement.

The danger arising from the judgment in L’Aquila is that in future, scientists will withhold their findings, fearful of the legal consequences.